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Being an avid reader and movie buff, I was initially reluctant to read two recent bestsellers, The Bridges of Madison County and The Horse Whisperer, or see their movie adaptations. I read book and movie reviews, which described them as romantic soap operas, a hodgepodge recycling of old movies and bad books appealing only to love-starved individuals. However, my interest remained high due to their continued popularity, and because two of my favorite actors, Clint Eastwood and Robert Redford, agreed to direct and star in the film version of each novel, respectively.
After reading both books and seeing both movies, I was amazed at the similarities between them. At first glance, it would seem that Robert Walker's novel, set in the Iowa farm county, would have little to do with the wideopen spaces of Nicholas Evans's Montana. But if the four characters (Francesca Johnson and Robert Kincaid in Bridges and Annie MacLean and Tom Booker in Whisperer) could somehow get together, they would have a lot in common to talk about.
These books, each the first novel by its author, were both on the national best-seller's list for months, selling multimillion copies worldwide, achieving both literary and financial success for their two previously unknown writers. Each story describes middle-aged romance, set in the American West, between a married but lonely woman and a footloose but sensitive man. However, each ending, in which the lovers reluctantly part forever so that they can do the right thing and resume their responsibilities as spouses and parents, as blue-collar and career professionals,...